I think it’s more speaking to the death of the Christian religion. He’s approaching it from the idea that humans collectively need some sort of structure because they don’t have the knowledge, skill, or foresight to lead themselves into prosperity. He says “Must we ourselves becomes gods,”but the tone is disbelieving. Humans might become “gods” in the sense that we can set our own moral values and our own path, but other than that we would be gods the same way John Flynt is a woman.